Pop Culture Blog

I accidentally skipped the semi-weekly “Play These” feature last week. That was a mistake, because it means this week’s list is a little on the long side. That’s OK, though! It just means there’s a little something for everyone (or a lot of somethings for crazy people like me).

Dance Central 3 (360 Kinect): The first two Dance Central games practically sold my wife and I on a Kinect purchase last Black Friday, and they remain some of the device’s best experiences. For the most part, the games just work. As intended. Which is more than can be said of even some of the better Kinect games available. The music is catchy, the moves make me feel smoother than I ever feel in real life, and it actually forces me to get up and be a little active, which is never a bad thing. Not to mention the fact that it’s incredibly easy to jump in and play, no matter your skill level (something made even easier with DC3′s Beginner difficulty setting).

Dance Central 3 builds on all of that with a cool new song list with hits spanning the best few decades, not just recent club tunes. It also adds some fun multiplayer functionality in which you create your own dance moves for your friends to fail attempting to repeat. And while I haven’t tried it yet, there is also support for Microsoft’s SmartGlass app (which launched on Windows 8 tablets and Android phones today).

Not sold yet? How about a story mode in which you travel back in time in order to stop dance crimes. Yeah, of course it’s awesome.

Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask (3DS):

I’ll be honest: I was already more or less sold on the new Professor Layton adventure purely by the merit of it being a new Professor Layton adventure. Even though games in the series have been coming out yearly, I don’t mind paying for a new set of clever logic puzzles every fall. These aren’t games you want to play back-to-back, lest you burn yourself out due to their similarities, but with a little distance between them each one can feel fresh.

That’s especially true for the series’ first foray onto the 3DS. The overall structure is the same: Explore the environment, hunting for puzzles and hint coins, while talking to colorful characters and experiencing a charming story filled with mystery. That’s still definitely the case, but the visuals are better than ever in 3D, and the puzzle design remains top-notch.

It gets off to a bit of a slow start with an early horse riding mini-game that’s not very interesting, but at the end of the day it’s still packed to the top hat brim with great logic puzzles.

Forza Horizon (360): I’m not a huge fan of super-serious racing games, which is why Forza Horizon appeals to me a little more than previous entries in the series did. It feels “real” without feeling too much like a simulation game. It’s slightly more “arcade-y” than its predecessors, but it still has a lot of depth in terms of driving. Also, it looks really pretty.

What Forza Horizon does exceptionally well is balance the more “simulation” sensibilities the series is know for with the arcade style more casual people (like me) are into. It’s not Burnout and it’s not Grand Turismo. It’s somewhere comfortably in between.

Hotline Miami (PC): At a casual glance, Hotline Miami may just look like ultra-violent top-down madness from the Super Nintendo era, if there were a Super Nintendo game heavily inspired by the movie Drive. And sure, there’s violence and a lot of it, but there’s a lot more to the game than that. It’s not violence for violence’s sake, as brutal as it can be. The game is more cerebral than it may first appear.

In some ways, Hotline Miami is more like a puzzle game. Presented with a building full of enemies and often no weapon (or at least no good one), you have to be both patient and quick, methodical and impulsive. You die in one hit, and you will die a lot. It’s not for the weak-willed or those who don’t want a challenge. The game will tell you to press “R to Restart” more often than not.

On top of that, the visuals are awesome in a sort of psychedelic way that won’t appeal to everybody, and the music is the same way. I like it, some people go absolutely crazy for it, and some don’t care for it at all. Check out some videos if you’re not sure which group you’re a part of, but there’s a lot here to justify a $10 purchase.

Castlevania: The Adventure (3DS eShop): The Game Boy’s first Castlevania game isn’t exactly the best in the series. In fact, to many people it’s one of the worst. But a not-great Castlevania is a bit like a not-great cupcake — it’s still worthwhile for a lot of people.

It’s a Castlevania game in the vein of the original — so don’t expect a large map or RPG mechanics like most of the games since Symphony of the Night on the PlayStation. It’s slow, it’s deliberate, and it can be pretty darn challenging. But hey, what better way to spend Halloween weekend than killing some monsters and vampires?

NightSky (3DS eShop): The 3DS has been pretty fortunate to have some classic indie games on its downloadable roster, and NightSky is the latest addition to that. Both soothing and satisfying, NightSky is one of the more beautiful games about rolling a ball you may ever play.

It’s not terribly long and, to be honest, the gameplay itself isn’t the most interesting thing about it. It’s not frustrating or anything, it’s just… simple. There’s not a ton to it, most of the time. But it’s a good, laid-back game that I think is a good fit for a portable, and it looks pretty great in 3D.

Killzone Trilogy (PS3): There’s not much to say about Killzone Trilogy other than the fact that it’s a pretty great deal if you’re new to the series. It remasters the original PS2 Killzone and packs it in with two of the PS3′s better shooters: Killzone 2 and 3. Combined with download codes for map packs, there are tons of hours of FPS gameplay in here, if you’re the kind of person who wants it.

Honorable Mention:

Roller Coaster Tycoon 3D (3DS): I wanted to like Roller Coaster Tycoon’s return a lot more than I do, especially because I’m always anxious to play quality strategy/sim games on a handheld. Roller Coaster Tycoon 3D tries to recapture the feel of the PC classic by letting you manage a theme park and designing your own roller coasters (and riding them when you’re done), but it just feels broken in too many ways. The game crashed on me multiple times when building coasters (a rarity for 3DS games), and I often struggled with the touch screen controls far more than I wanted to. Unfortunately, I have to say that it would be better to track down the original game and play that instead. You can actually download it easily for $6 from GoG.

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News, reviews, nuggets and tidbits from the world of pop culture, including movies, music, TV, local and national celebrities.